Free Homecoming Day by Holly Jacobs Page B

on, “Should I call JT andtell her that you’re having the baby so that she doesn’t think you deserted her tomorrow at detention?”
    â€œYes. I thought I had more time before the baby.”
    â€œYou’ll be on maternity leave for a while?”
    â€œYes. At least three months. I may just take the rest of the school year. It would be unpaid, but I have enough put away.” She was quiet then.
    Things were a blur when they got to the hospital. They whisked Laura away to get her ready. Seth had no idea what that entailed, and he didn’t ask. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t leave her, but he didn’t want to be here. He was a casual acquaintance, an ally at best.
    He thought again of calling the chief. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place here. On the heels of that thought, a nurse said, “Your wife is all settled in the birthing room.”
    â€œShe’s not my wife.”
    The tiny woman in scrubs and a ponytail frowned. “Your girlfriend, then.”
    â€œNo, we’re not—”
    She interrupted him, frustration in her voice. “Your baby-mama, then. She’s settled and you can go in.”
    The room the nurse showed him into didn’t look like an ordinary hospital room. Pictures of babies were on the walls. And there was a rocking chair and recliner. “Nice room,” he said, for lack of anything else.
    â€œThe nurse said you were still here. Really, you can go now. But thanks for driving me. I guess it would have been dangerous if I’d had a huge labor pain in the middle of traffic.”
    â€œAny yet?”
    â€œNo. Not yet. The nurse said normally they start within twenty-four hours after your water breaks. She would have let me go home, but says I shouldn’t be alone, so I’m here for the duration. It’s a waiting game now. If I’m not in labor by the morning, they’ll probably induce me.”
    He pulled the rocking chair next to the bed. “Well, it looks like we’re in for a long night. Why don’t you see if there’s anything on television?” He plunked down in the chair like Custer making his last stand, and like Custer, he had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well.
    â€œSeth, really. Go home.”
    â€œHey, I’m not staying for the messy bits, but I’m also not leaving you alone to wait. So, we’ll wait together. Watch some TV. Maybe I’ll visit the gift shop before it closes and see if there’s a deck of cards I can buy.”
    â€œSeth…”
    â€œLaura, it’s no use arguing. Unless you call someone else, I’m staying.”
    â€œFine. I challenge you to Five Hundred Rummy. And I should warn you, I’m quite the card shark.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    L AURA STUDIED SETH AS HE slept in the recliner. His features had eased and he looked much younger. She tried to guess how old he was. Maybe late twenties? Certainly not more than thirty, tops. She wondered how his hair would grow in if it wasn’t so short. Would it be straight, or would it curl if he let it get long? She couldn’t imagine him letting it get too long. He was too much a cop for that. This shorter cut suited him without making him look forbidding. He looked…safe. Like someone you could trust.
    She was wondering why he was here and what she was going to do with him, when the first contraction hit. She’d read the books and gone to class and she expected the first contraction to be more of a cramping than anything else.
    This wasn’t that.
    It wasn’t some gentle introduction to the world of contractions. It was so fierce it took her breath away.
    Ten minutes later, another came.
    By one o’clock, she called in a nurse who woke up Seth to kick him out of the room so the nurse could check her progress.
    The nurse declared Laura was at five centimeters and went to update the doctor.
    â€œThis next stage goes faster and the